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I'm trying to identify the type of wood used on this Victor Victrola motor board. A couple years ago I picked it up through a Craigslist ad -- I'm not sure which model it fits-- perhaps a 230? It measures approx. 12 ¼" X 15 ½". Has the normal 4-spring motor attached. It doesn't look like the Circassian Walnut that I've seen, but I'm not familiar with many of the specialty woods Victor used. Anyone know what it is??

I wish I had the rest of the machine!!

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

Brad Abell

By the way-- The motor board hasn't been stripped. That's original finish in very nice shape.

Brad Abell

Hi Brad,

That looks like circassian walnut to me. What a machine that must have been!

Dick Mauney

Your probably right, its certainly a beautiful piece of wood. Some machines were made of what they called American Walnut which was also a large grain wood.

Larry

You've got a great start to fine motor board collection. It really is quite spectacular. There was a thread a couple of years ago about the possible use of lesser woods on Circassian machines. It was my theory that places less frequently seen, like the majority of the area of a motor board, were made of lesser woods stained to look Circassian. I'd certainly be wrong with your motor board! Jerry B.

Jerry B. wrote:You've got a great start to fine motor board collection. It really is quite spectacular. There was a thread a couple of years ago about the possible use of lesser woods on Circassian machines. It was my theory that places less frequently seen, like the majority of the area of a motor board, were made of lesser woods stained to look Circassian. I'd certainly be wrong with your motor board! Jerry B.

It looks like they've taken left over Circassian veneer & done some piecing

I refinished a circassian walnut Victrola 10 years ago now and almost every panel had a CW stamped in it somewhere by the lot number so it wouldn't be confused with something else I suppose. But it was an earlier machine than the one you have, an XVI, but they may not have done that with your motorboard if they were using up scrap wood.